The Jazz Vegas Orchestra & The Music of Joe Williams

Name: The Jazz Vegas Orchestra & The Music of Joe Williams
Start: 2024-10-09T19:00:00-07:00
Location: Myron's at The Smith Center

Schedule

Wed Oct 09 2024 at 07:00 pm

UTC-07:00

Location

Myron's at The Smith Center | Las Vegas, NV

Jazz Outreach Initiative’s Jazz Vegas Orchestra (formerly JOI Jazz Orchestra) is honored to welcome vocalists Michelle Johnson, Naomi Mauro, and special surprise guest artists to celebrate Las Vegas’s own “Number One Son” with original music curated from the Joe Williams Library along with exhilarating arrangements that will have Myron’s at The Smith Center swinging!
Joe Williams was so beloved by Count Basie that he called him, “My Number One Son.” Some of his most iconic songs were performed with The Count Basie Orchestra between 1954 – 1961 including “Every Day I Have the Blues” and “Alright, OK, You Win.” The Los Angeles Times called him, “The Finest Jazz Singer of his Generation.”
With 7 Grammy® nominations and 1 win for Best Vocal Jazz Performance (Nothin’ But the Blues – 1984) and 1992 induction to the Grammy® Hall of Fame (“Every Day I Have the Blues”) along with a host of other accolades and accomplishments, Joe Williams moved to Las Vegas where he performed regularly while supporting jazz as a thriving art form through its younger generations. After his 1999 passing, his wife Jillean founded The Joe Williams Every Day Foundation which cements his legacy by offering grants and scholarships to jazz institutions centered around youth jazz education including UNLV and Jazz Outreach Initiative.